


Akira's Party Mystery

by BadDuckPuns



Series: Happy Birthday, Phantom Thieves! [3]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Multi, the important parts to mention are that Akira is genderfluid and Kawakami is his foster mother, this one is super AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:35:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26902993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BadDuckPuns/pseuds/BadDuckPuns
Summary: Akira hates being left out of the loop. So when his foster-mother and friends are trying to keep a party secret from him, it bothers him. Why wouldn't they tell him about the party?
Relationships: Kawakami Sadayo & Kurusu Akira, Kawakami Sadayo/Takemi Tae (Mentioned), Kitagawa Yusuke/Kurusu Akira, Kurusu Akira & Takemi Tae, Kurusu Akira/Niijima Makoto, Kurusu Akira/Okumura Haru, Kurusu Akira/Sakamoto Ryuji, Kurusu Akira/Suzui Shiho, Kurusu Akira/Takamaki Ann, Polythieves
Series: Happy Birthday, Phantom Thieves! [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1962883
Comments: 3
Kudos: 23





	Akira's Party Mystery

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SinnohRemakes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SinnohRemakes/gifts).



> Shout out to my girl SinnohRemakes who outlined this for me, I wrote this for her birthday like a month ago but I'm just publishing it now. Love ya, you huge goober.

Akira watched the coffee machine feebly sputter its precious, life-giving liquid into their mug. Their hell brain had decided they were going to be up early today, and so they were. They blamed Ryuji, getting them hooked on early morning exercise and not letting them enjoy sleeping in on a Sunday. They claimed their wonderful chemical concoction and leaned back on the counter, inhaling deeply. They could barely stand the grocery store coffee anymore. Sojiro was turning them into a coffee snob. Oh, if only they could *live* above that coffee shop, and have a cup of the boss’s special blend every morning…

The front door pushed open, revealing Akira’s foster mom, laden with grocery bags. She set them down on the kitchen table, before turning to address her charge.

“Hey kiddo!” She chirped. Ugh, morning people. “You’re up early. How much coffee have you had?”

“I’m on my second cup.” They intoned flatly. “The pot should still be warm if you want some.”

Kawakami shuffled around, putting various groceries away as Akira zoned out, staring at one of the bags on the table. A red design in the clear bag caught their attention. They turned their head to read it better.

“What did you buy party poppers for? Are we hosting a party or something?”

Kawakami froze in front of the fridge. Her expression shifted to one of surprise, and then of panic. Was she looking for an answer? Akira thought it was a simple question.

“It’s, uh. For one of my classes. It’s one of their birthdays tomorrow and I’m giving them the last fifteen minutes of class tomorrow to celebrate.”

Ok, that was weird. Should they lay off? It wasn’t like Kawakami to lie to them, so if it was something she didn’t want to tell Akira, then it might be something serious. Then again, Akira was never one to let sleeping dogs lie. They decided to press.

“Oh, that’s nice of you. Are party poppers allowed at school?”

“…sometimes.”

Yeah, that was definitely a lie. Kawakami was an awful liar at the best of times, and this was not the best of times. Akira narrowed their eyes. Time to put their experience with investigations to work.

Akira set their cup down and leaned forward on their palm.

“Hey, Kawakami?”

“Yes kiddo?”

“Did you check the mail on the way in?”

Kawakami snapped her head up, nearly avoiding bonking her head on the cabinet door.

“You’re right! I swear, I’d forget my own head if it wasn’t attached. I’ll be right back.”

Akira waited for the front door to click shut before they pounced on the grocery bags. Several boxes of the party poppers, two rolls of streamers, red, a box of cheap paper party hats in various colors. Kawakami definitely wasn’t lying about there being a party, then. But what Akira couldn’t understand is who the party was *for*. It was near enough the middle of the year, there were no party-worthy holidays coming up. Takemi’s birthday was two months ago, and Kawakami’s own birthday was in a month and a half. None of Akira’s friends had a birthday anytime soon, either. Maybe one of Kawakami’s coworkers? She wasn’t *that* close to them, at least as far as Akira knew.

They frowned, replacing the items in the bag before picking their mug back up, swishing around the now lukewarm coffee. They sighed. Maybe they should just go bother Sojiro for a cup. They drank the last of the coffee before placing their mug in the sink and popping the latch on the window. As they climbed out, there was one question on their mind: Why would Kawakami lie to them?

The next week, Akira was having lunch with Ann and Yusuke after a particularly stressful day at school. She had barely gotten any sleep the night before because of a Mementos run leaving her too wired to rest, and they had gotten a pop quiz in math AND in English. It was hell. Truly, Akira thought to herself, god gives his hardest fights to his sexiest soldiers.

She hadn’t forgotten about Kawakami’s secret party, either. Whenever she had a free thought, it came back to pester her, like a fly in her room that she couldn’t swat. In other words, it was bugging the shit out of her. The party supplies had been squirreled away into a high cabinet (she had known to look because Kawakami couldn’t reach that cabinet, and a step-stool had been left in the kitchen), not used the following day like Kawakami had claimed. Why would she lie? What was the purpose? Her best guess was that Kawakami was planning a birthday for one of her friends next month, and didn’t want Akira to spoil the surprise? Didn’t make much sense, but why else wouldn’t she tell her?

Akira huffed, sick of this train of thought. She slumped against Ann’s shoulder, eyes fluttering shut for a moment. She started to drift, her girlfriend’s perfume and the sound of rapid, almost rhythmic texting lulling her to sleep. She felt a finger nudge her forehead. Ow, rude. the poke started to shift her focus back to this plane from the plane of naps. Ah, shit Ann said something and she missed it.

“Could you repeat that, gorgeous?” Akira asked, tilting her head up to look Ann in the eye.

Ann laughed, one of Akira’s favorite sounds even when it was directed at her and her tendency to fall asleep on people she liked.

“Wow, you were really out of it for a second there. I was asking if there’s anything cool you’ve seen in the mall recently.”

“Hm, there was this nice blue lipstick that would look nice with Makoto’s eyes. I also saw a tea set that looked like a strawberry that Haru would like, but I think she has one of those.”

Ann hummed, her brow furrowing as she texted whoever.

“Those sound cute. I was wondering more if there was stuff you would want for you, though?”

“For me? Uh, nothing comes to mind immediately…” She trailed off. Was Ann going to buy her something? Wasn’t unheard of, but Ann wasn’t as lavish with her gifts as, say, Haru was.

Ann started texting rapidly again. Man, who was she talking to? Akira peeked at her phone. She saw the contact photos for Makoto, Futaba, and… Kawakami? Why would her girlfriend have her foster mother’s number?

Another text came in, this time from Ryuji.

It read “yo ann did u get a idea about what to get aki?”

Akira looked up at Ann, confused. The blonde waved her hands in Akira’s face, shooing her away from her phone.

“Stop snooping! I’m having a totally normal conversation, thank you very much.”

Akira huffed again shifted so her back was on Ann’s arm and her legs were on Yusuke, who had been quietly sketching for the entirety of the time they’d been having lunch. His food lay ignored on the table in front of them.

“Yusu, you’re the only one I can trust. What’re you drawin’ anyway?”

Yusuke looked over from his sketchpad, smiling. Oh, be still, her beating heart.

“I apologize, my love, but I must participate in the subterfuge as well. It is a secret to everybody.”

Akira groaned. He’d been spending too much time around Futaba. She swung her legs off of his lap and stood, gathering the remnants of her lunch.

“This burger is the only one that understands me. I’m gonna go stretch my legs. Later, love you both.”

Both of them echoed back her sentiment, but her mind was elsewhere. First Kawakami lied about that party, and now seemingly all of her partners AND Kawakami were in on hiding something from her, something to do with getting her a gift. As Akira rounded the corner to the station, she made a connection.

Were they throwing her a party?

The next few days had given Akira time to solidify his theory. For whatever reason, his friends, Kawakami, and likely Takemi were planning on throwing him a party. Considering Kawakami was keeping the party supplies at her house, it was likely going to be held there. They were also planning on giving Akira gifts. He had even run into Ryuji in Shibuya the day before, holding something behind his back that he didn’t want to show Akira. All that information had slotted into place, but the thing Akira couldn’t figure out is *why*. He wasn’t complaining! Of course he wasn’t, the fact that they all liked him enough to throw him a party for him was nice, but he couldn’t imagine why they were making such a production out of it.

He was going to wear a rut in central street if he kept pacing it to think.

His phone buzzed in his pocket. All of his friends had said they were busy today, so he hadn’t expected any messages. The message ID said it was from Takemi. Now that was definitely weird. Another thing to add to the list. His foster mother’s girlfriend wasn’t someone that talked to him much unless they were both at Kawakami’s house, and when she did need to talk to him she’d usually call. Opening the message was disturbing.

“Need you at Kawakami’s as soon as possible. It’s under control, but hurry. I’ll explain when you get here.”

Hm. That sounds bad. The panicky part of Akira started to bubble up, but he pushed it back down. If it had been a serious emergency, Takemi would’ve just told him out right. Everything was fine, under control. His logical brain knew that nothing bad was going to happen.

That didn’t stop him from nearly running to catch the next train to Yongen.

The ride back to the house was torture. He had to concentrate to keep his face neutral and his leg still. He busied himself with a mobile gacha game Makoto had gotten him into to keep his mind off it, but when the stop dinged for Yongen-Jaya he was still first off the train. He jogged past Leblanc and the pathway down to the public bath. Hm, the coffee shop was closed, it looked like. He jogged faster, pulling his key out of his pocket.

He arrived at Kawakami’s house, and tried the door. Unlocked. He nearly threw it open, a part of him dreading what he’d see, when-

*POP*

*POP*

*BANG*

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AKIRAAAAA!!!”

Akira stood in the door, taking in the scene. The living room was decorated in party signs and streamers. His friends, Kawakami, Takemi, and Sojiro stood, holding party poppers and wearing party hats. One of Futaba’s laptops sat on a chair, showing a live video call of Shiho, also wearing a party hat. A rich brown cake sat on a tray, filling the room with the scent of coffee. Bags holding presents sat scattered around the room. Everyone looked at him expectantly.

Well, he was right about them throwing him a party, even if he’d not realized the reason.

He had forgotten his own birthday.


End file.
